proposed  designs 
the  Cathedral 

of 

Saint  John  the  Divine 

New  York 


SECOND  EDITION 


"The  hand  that  rounded  Peter's  dome 
And  groined  the  aisles  of  Christian  Rome 
Wrought  in  a  sad  sincerity; 
Himself  from  God  he  could  not  free; 
He  builded  better  than  he  knew; — 
The  conscious  stone  to  beauty  grew." 

*t*  jjc  sfc 

"Earth  proudly  wears  the  Parthenon, 
As  the  best  gem  upon  her  zone, 
And  morning  opes  with  haste  her  lids 
To  gaze  upon  the  Pyramids; 
O'er  England's  abbeys  bends  the  sky, 
As  o'er  its  friends,  with  kindred  eye; 
For  out  of  Thought's  interior  sphere 
These  wonders  rose  to  upper  air; 
And  nature  gladly  gave  them  place, 
Adopted  them  into  her  race, 
And  granted  them  an  equal  date 
With  Andes  and  with  Ararat." 

—  From  "The  Problem,"  by  R.  W.  Emerson 


Foreword 


On  the  occasion  of  the  tenth  anniversary  of  the  consecration  of  the  choir  and 
crossing,  April  19,  1911,  the  Trustees  of  the  Cathedral  present  to  those 
whose  generous  aid  and  interest  has  brought  this  great  project  thus  far  on  its 
way  this  report  on  the  development  of  the  designs  for  its  completion.  While 
these  plans  may  be  modified  in  detail,  it  is  believed  that  the  types  and  prin- 
ciples of  design  here  indicated  will  be  faithfully  followed.  This  pamphlet  is 
made  up  of  illustrations  and  articles  which  appeared  in  the  Easter  issues  of 
The  Churchman  in  the  years  1919  and  1921. 


DIMENSIONS 


Of  Area           109,082  square  feet 

Of  Length 

Western  Towers  (square)  50  feet 

Nave  225 

Crossing  100 

Choir  170 

St.  Saviour's  Chapel  56 

Total  Length  601 

Of  Width 


West  Front  (inc.  Buttresses) 

220  feet 

Nave  and  Aisles  (exterior) 

132  " 

Transepts 

315  " 

Nave  (interior) 

56  " 

Aisles  (each) 

34  " 

Crossing 

100  " 

Choir 

56  " 

Ambulatory 

20  " 

ht 

Western  Towers 

265  feet 

Ridge  of  Nave  Roof 

175  " 

Nave  Vaults  (above  floor) 

130  " 

Choir  " 

127  " 

Crossing 

200  " 

Central  Fleche  " 

470  " 

Finial  Cross  (30  feet)  " 

500  " 

above  tide  water  631 


GROUND  PLAN 


PROPOSED  WEST  FRONT 


The  New  Designs  for  the  Completion  of 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  DIVINE 


WHEN  it  was  decided  to  proceed  with 
plans  for  the  nave  of  the  Cathedral  of 
St.  John  the  Divine  it  became  neces- 
sary to  consider  schemes  for  the  various 
parts  of  the  entire  edifice  in  order  that  the 
whole  might  be  in  harmony.  The  consult- 
ing architects  said  that  these  projects  could 
only  be  considered  as  tentative.  So  vast  a 
problem  and  one  bringing  up  so  many  new 
questions  was  not  lightly  to  be  solved.  It 
is  possible  that  the  completion  of  the  build- 
ing may  take  place  only  when  all  those  now 
living  are  dead ;  the  final  decision  may  be 
in  other  hands.  Architecture  is  more  than 
the  expression  of  the  private  predilections 
of  individual  practitioners,  it  has  in  it  some- 
thing that  is  communal.  A  project  such  as 
this  must  grow  from  year  to  year,  earlier 
ideas  being  modified  or  altogether  dis- 
carded, others  taking  their  place,  perhaps 
in  their  turn  also  to  be  abandoned. 

Precisely  this  has  happened.  The  nave 
has  been  designed  throughout,  complete 
working  plans  prepared.  The  general 
scheme  has  been  under  constant  considera- 
tion not  only  by  the  architects,  but  by  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities,  the  trustees  and 
the  general  public.  The  result  of  this  cor- 
porate scrutiny  is  a  unanimous  desire  to 
seek  motives  other  than  those  first  sug- 
gested. The  drawings  herewith  published 
are  the  outcome. 

The  original  tentative  designs  published 
in  The  Churchman,  Easter,  1919,  produced 
under  the  direction  of  the  consulting  archi- 
tect, offered  solutions  of  two  problems. 
These  were,  first,  the  crossing  with  its  tower 
or  towers,  second,  the  west  front.  Neither 
of  these  solutions  was  considered  final.  In 
the  case  of  the  west  front  the  design  indi- 
cated was  never  held  to  be  anything  more 
than  "a"  front.  Time  was  then  lacking  for 
the  minute  study  necessary.  During  the 
war  this  time  has  been  afforded,  and  the 
new  west  fagade  represents  in  a  general 
way  what  the  architects  believe  to  be  a  final 
solution  of  the  problem.  This  does  not  ex- 
tend to  details,  which  will  have  to  be 
studied  and  re-studied.  Particularly  is  this 
true  of  the  upper  portions  of  the  towers,  but 
the  general  composition  is  one  which  the 
architects  are  prepared  definitely  to  rec- 
ommend. 

As  will  be  seen,  a  fagade  of  five  units  has 
been  adopted,  based  rather  on  the  fronts 
of  Bourges  and  Wells  than  on  the  three- 
unit  facades  of  Notre  Dame,  Amiens  and 
Rheims.  The  three-unit  fagade  was  the  one 
most  popular  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
was  simply  an  exterior  expression  of  the 
nave,  buttressed  by  two  great  towers,  which 
either  cover  both  side  aisles  as  in  the  five- 
aisled  plan  of  Notre  Dame,  or  project  well 
beyond  the  single  side  aisle,  as  in  numerous 
three-aisled  instances.  Bourges  and  Wells 
strike  a  new  scheme  of  great  possibilities. 


In  these  cases  the  nave  and  both  of  the 
double  side  aisles  are  expressed  by  portals 
in  the  fagade,  while  the  towers  are  pushed 
to  the  north  and  south,  so  giving  a  front 
of  greater  width,  more  perfectly  express- 
ing the  organism  behind. 

In  the  present  design  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  combine  the  great  verticals  of 
Bourges  and  Wells  with  the  powerful  hori- 
zontals of  Notre  Dame,  Amiens  and 
Rheims,  the  idea  being  to  knit  the  com- 
position together  with  a  definiteness  that 
was  not  attained  in  the  above-named  five- 
unit  fagades.  The  deep  porches  of  Rheims 
and  Amiens  with  their  immense  shadows 
take  the  place  of  the  shallow  portals  of 
Bourges,  while  the  verticals  of  the  towers 
are  modeled  more  or  less  on  those  of 
Rheims  Cathedral.  It  seems  to  the  archi- 
tects that  the  enormous  bulk  of  the  New 
York  cathedral  will  not  only  support,  but 
actually  demand  a  fagade  as  wide  and  spa- 
cious as  that  now  shown. 

In  the  case  of  the  crossing  and  its  treat- 
ment, the  problem  was,  and  still  remains, 
infinitely  more  difficult.  Here  is  a  great 
central  square,  four  times  larger  in  area 
than  any  Gothic  crossing.  The  many  studies 
made  some  years  ago,  searching  after  a 
scheme  for  a  single  central  tower  that 
should  not  (by  reason  of  its  abnormal  area) 
dwarf  and  crush  all  the  rest  of  the  building, 
were  not  successful,  and  the  architects  were 
willing  for  a  time  to  consider  the  idea  of  a 
tower  over  the  crossing  which  should  be 
merely  high  enough  to  include  the  vaulting 
of  the  crossing,  with  two  lofty  towers 
capped  with  slender  spires  placed  on  either 
side  of  the  nave  at  the  junction  of  the 
transepts.  This  is  a  primitive  motive 
found  chiefly  in  Lombard  and  Romanesque 
work  where  it  is  used  with  great  effective- 
ness. It  must  be  admitted  that  the  necessity 
of  carrying  up  the  great  square  of  the 
crossing  (126  feet  by  126  feet)  sufficiently 
above  the  roof  to  provide  an  adequate  lan- 
tern complicated  the  question  materially  and 
perhaps  made  the  result  less  satisfactory 
than  would  have  been  the  case  had  the  roofs 
crossed  without  external  expression  of  the 
central  vault,  as  happens  in  many  of  the 
thirteenth  century  French  cathedrals. 

Ralph  Adams  Cram. 


[As  Mr.  Cram  was  out  of  the  country 
when  the  plans  for  the  central  mass  and 
the  completion  of  the  choir  were  adopted, 
the  further  explanation  of  the  plans  was 
carried  out  by  another  hand. — Editor.] 

In  finally  reconsidering  the  treatment  of 
the  central  mass,  the  architects  have  been 
forced  back  to  the  original  idea  of  a  single 
central  tower  in  two  stages,  recalling  the 
lantern  of  Ely  by  its  polygonal  plan.  The 


lantern  is  made  polygonal  to  preserve  its 
proportion  with  the  rest  of  the  building 
from  whatever  angle  seen,  which  is  not  pos- 
sible to  a  rectangular  tower  when  seen  from 
varying  viewpoints.  It  was  the  opinion  of 
some  of  the  authorities  that  the  proposed 
double  lantern  lacks  aspiration,  that  is,  that 
it  seems  cut  off,  too  broad  and  flat  at  the 
top  and  that  the  eye  demands  to  be  led 
higher,  seeking  a  harmonious  finish.  The 
precedent  of  Ely  proved  to  be  misleading; 
the  upper  lantern  of  Ely  is  built  of  timber 
and  is  only  twenty-eight  feet  in  diameter, 
while  the  eighty-six  feet  of  the  proposed 
upper  lantern  obviously  demands  different 
treatment.  Accordingly,  in  the  last  design, 
standing  on  the  upper  lantern  there  appears 
a  fleche  or  spirelet  of  open  stonework  like 
that  of  Bourges,  but  only  one  half  the  width 
at  its  base  of  the  diameter  of  the  fully  de- 
veloped spire  proposed  by  the  first  architects 
and  quite  as  high.  The  gradual  narrowing 
of  the  structure  from  its  base  on  the  great 
arches  of  the  crossing  up  to  the  cross 
that  crowns  it  at  a  height  of  500  feet, 
complies  with  popular  taste  as  well  as 
with  one  of  the  most  authoritative  prin- 
ciples of  design.  The  great  verticals,  the 
strongly  accented  piers  that  separate  the 
windows  and  support  the  whole,  re-echo  the 
commanding  verticality  of  the  west  front. 
The  pierced  stonework  of  the  fleche  adds 
high  poetic  charm.  As  it  ascends  the 
strength  of  the  building  blossoms  out  in 
enhanced  beauty. 

The  revised  scheme  for  the  choir  now 
awaits  discussion.  The  trustees  looked  far 
ahead  when  they  asked,  "What  effect  will 
the  proposed  nave  have  on  the  choir  and 
how  can  the  two  be  brought  into  harmony  ?" 
Obviously  discordant  elements  of  style  and 
proportion  had  already  raised  these  "obsti- 
nate questionings"  in  the  public  mind.  The 
choir  will  serve  as  it  is  until  the  nave  is 
built,  but  the  public  must  be  convinced  that 
all  parts  of  the  great  structure  will  finally 
be  completely  harmonious.  The  cathe- 
dral cannot  be  built  without  the  enthusias- 
tic public  approbation  of  the  whole  scheme. 
The  nave,  nearly  as  high  and  quite  as  wide 
as  that  of  Milan,  imposes  its  own  scale 
on  the  whole  structure.  The  nave  of  the 
first  design  was  to  be  but  ninety  feet  high, 
in  this  plan  it  has  a  height  of  130  feet. 
The  Byzantine  semi-dome  over  the  altar 
much  reduces  the  apparent  height  of  the 
choir ;  another  thing  conspires  to  the  same 
end.  The  choir  may  be  called  a  recess  or 
alcove  of  the  completed  structure.  Theor- 
ists hold  that  the  apparent  height  of  an 
alcove  is  determined  by  the  height  above 
the  floor  of  the  topmost  point  of  illumina- 
tion, for  instance,  by  the  peak  of  the  high- 
est windows.  The  present  highest  point 
of  illumination  is  80  feet,  inadequate  to 
balance  the  110  feet  of  the  rose  window  in 
the  west  end  of  the  nave.  The  result  of 
these  discrepancies  of  height  will  be  that 
the  nave  when  built  will  fatally  dwarf  the 


I'KOmSKI)  NORTH  KI.K\  \TI()\ 


choir.  The  Byzantine  dome  will  be  dis- 
cordant with  the  thirteenth  century  Gothic 
of  the  nave.  Fortunately  the  semi-dome 
is  but  a  thin  terra  cotta  shell,  which  per- 
forms no  structural  function  and  is  easily 
removable.  If  removed  there  would  be  dis- 
closed, resting  upon  the  massive,  close-set 
granite  columns  which  surround  the  apse, 
a  high  clear-story  wall,  supporting  the 
structural  roof,  pierced  by  seven  clear-story 
window  openings,  twenty-two  feet  high. 
The  semi-dome  conceals  the  existing  struc- 
tural members  of  a  thirteenth  century 
French  Gothic  apse!  There  are  fifty  feet 
of  construction  above  the  capitals  of  the 
great  columns,  as  much  height  of  wall  above 
as  there  is  length  of  column  below  the  cap- 
itals, furnishing  what  is  entirely  lacking 
now— an  adequate  load  and  a  reason  for 
the  massiveness  of  the  columns.  If  the 
window  openings  now  hid  by  the  semi-dome 
were  glazed  and  illuminated  by  the  sun, 
they  would  lead  the  eye  upward  to  a  point 
120  feet  above  the  nave  floor,  with  the  ef- 
fect of  raising  the  apse  to  a  glorious  equal- 
ity with  the  nave.  The  whole  structure, 
from  one  end  to  another,  would  thrill  with 
harmonious  aspiration.  The  standard  con- 
struction of  a  thirteenth  century  apse  in- 
cludes close-set  massive  columns  round  or 
nearly  so  in  section,  crowned  with  narrow 
arches,  above  which  runs  a  small  triforium 
gallery  and  higher  still  a  series  of  stained 
windows,  set  in  lovely  vaulting.  This 
scheme  is  followed  in  17  of  the  great 
cathedrals  of  France.  The  choir  of  St. 
John's  is  from  15  to  20  feet  wider  than 
the  French  choirs,  permitting  of  much  more 
beautiful  groining  than  is  possible  in  nar- 
rower structures. 

At  present  on  each  side  of  the  choir  above 
the  organs,  there  are  seen  clear  story  win- 
dows, reaching  into  the  vaults.  These  win- 
dows are  jilted  by  sky  lights  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  roofs,  a  sheer  irrationality  and 
anomaly  !  By  the  removal  of  the  semi-dome 
a  series  of  windows  would  be  shown  en- 
circling the  apse,  admitting  light  120  feet 
above  the  floor. 

The  structural  framework  for  this  mar- 
velous transformation  is  now  in  place.  It 
was  erected  at  great  expense  and  is  masked 
and  mutilated  by  false  work  which  cost  rel- 
atively little.  The  picture  on  page  eleven 
speaks  for  itself.  It  is  felt  that  this  part 
of  the  plan,  harmonizing  the  choir  with  the 
nave  and  with  the  majestic  vaulted  cross- 
ing, is  a  last  and  essential  member  in  the 
complex  design  of  what  promises  to  be 
one  of  the  great  cathedrals  of  the  world. 

It  cannot  be  said  too  often  that  the  compo- 
nent parts  of  the  plan  are  officially  adopted 
in  principle  only,  and  will  be  subjected  to 
careful  study  and  modification  in  detail, 
both  by  the  authorities  and  the  architects. 


THE  CATHEDRAL 
DESIGNS 

THE  majestic  beauty  of  Messrs. 
Cram  and  Ferguson's  designs  for 
the  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Di- 
vine is  shown  by  the  insert  in  this 
number  of  The  Churchman,  but  the 
rank  that  will  be  accorded  the  finished 
structure  is  more  fully  suggested  by  a 
few  comparisons. 

The  building  will  be  slightly  longer 
than  Winchester,  coming  after  St. 
Peter's  in  respect  of  length ;  its  inter- 
nal height  slightly  exceeds  that  of 
Rheims.  The  central  fleche  is  as  tall 
as  the  spire  of  Salisbury.  The  width 
of  the  nave  is  the  same  as  in  Milan, 
and  the  great  piers  of  the  nave  arcade 
are  matched  in  diameter  and  height 
only  by  those  of  Milan.  The  crossing 
falls  a  few  square  feet  short  of  the 
area  "Under  the  Dome"  at  St.  Paul's. 
The  choir  follows  the  best  traditions 
of  the  French  Gothic  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  indeed  it  improves  upon  those 
traditions.  The  width  of  the  French 
choirs  (about  thirty  feet  J,  cramps  the 
groining  of  the  apse  into  knife-edges, 
a  fault  easily  avoidable  by  the  fifty-five 
feet  of  width  here  available.  The  ra- 
diating chapels  opening  out  of  the 
choir  have  already  been  pronounced 
by  competent  authority  "the  finest  che- 
vet  in  the  world."  The  mighty  west 
front  is  reminiscent  of  the  best  French 
examples.  The  spread  of  the  trans- 
epts, about  300  feet,  is  almost  unique 
Indeed  the  whole  structure  is  charac- 
terized by  unusual  breadth  and  con- 
sequent nobility. 

The  architect  is  especially  to  be  con- 
gratulated on  the  treatment  of  the  cen- 
tral mass,  the  very  crux  of  any  tran- 
septal  plan.  A  polygonal  lantern  of  the 
type  of  the  Ely  octagon  has  replaced 
the  low  square  tower  of  an  earlier  de- 
sign, and  the  element  of  aspiration  de- 
manded by  such  great  length  and 
breadth  has  been  added  by  a  spirelet 
or  fleche  of  open  stone  work  spring- 
ing from  the  top  of  the  lantern.  The 
great  English  critic  James  Ferguson 
said  that  the  Ely  octagon  is  the  most 
beautiful  and  original  achievement  of 
English  Gothic  and  explains  that  its 
precedent  was  not  followed  and  devel- 


oped only  because  it  was  invented  too 
late,  appearing  only  as  the  cathedral 
building  age  was  nearing  its  end.  The 
octagon  was  not  completed  according 
to  Allan  of  Walshingham's  original 
purpose.  Its  stone  work  shows  strong 
footings  for  a  crowning  superstructure 
of  stone;  but,  instead  was  built,  prob- 
ably as  a  temporary  finish,  a  wooden 
cupola  harmonizing  imperfectly  with 
the  octagon.  James  Ferguson  said  that 
a  possible  reawakening  of  the  vital 
Gothic  spirit  would  yet  work  out  the 
triumphant  realization  of  the  ideal 
foreshadowed  in  the  octagon  of  Ely.  Is 
it  too  much  to  say  that  at  last  an  Amer- 
ican architect  has  fulfilled  the  pro- 
phecy of  the  great  English  critic? 

The  cathedral,  if  built  on  the  lines 
now  indicated,  will  be  one  of  the 
world's  great  temples,  coming  in  size 
after  St.  Peter's  and  Seville  (the  re- 
vised plans  of  the  Liverpool  Cathedral 
are  not  at  hand  for  comparison; ,  and 
will  take  high  rank  not  only  for  bulk 
but  also  for  beauty.  The  magnitude 
of  the  task  of  erecting  it  gives  us 
pause,  but  the  plans  before  us  are  such 
as  to  inspire  to  any  effort  it  may  cost 
to  realize  them.  The  first  step  in  any 
great  project  is  an  adequate  and  in- 
spiring plan.  Plato  insisted  that  the 
original  idea  is  the  funadmental  reality 
while  its  subsequent  embodiment  is  sec- 
ondary and  a  matter  of  detail.  This 
Platonic  doctrine  lay  at  the  bottom  of 
the  admonition  to  Moses  when  about 
to  build  the  Tabernacle:  "See  that 
thou  make  all  things  after  the  pattern 
showed  thee  in  the  mount."  All  great 
structures  are  founded  in  an  idea  which 
grows,  develops  and  realizes  itself  in 
ways  not  dreamt  of  at  its  first  incep- 
tion. Mr.  Cram's  article  ("How  Ca- 
thedral Plans  Grow"  might  have  been 
its  title)  shows  the  process  and  prin- 
ciples of  thought  by  which  his  ideal  is 
being  wrought  out.  The  contagion  of 
this  great  vision  will  no  doubt  carry  it 
to  full  embodiment.  When  at  last  it 
stands  upon  our  Cathedral  Heights  as 
its  creator's  mind  now  sees  it,  it  will 
become  like  Milan  and  Seville,  like 
Winchester  and  Ely,  like  Rheims  ana 
Amiens,  "a  possession  forever." 

Reprinted  from  "The  Churchman"  of  March 
26,  1921  (Easter  Number). 


PROPOSED  MODIFICATION  OF  CHOIH,  FROM  THE  EAM 


PROPOSED  NAVE,  LOOKING  WEST 


PROPOSED  COMPLETION  OF  THE  CHOIR.  LOOKING  EAST 


COMPARATIVE  DIMENSIONS  OF  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 


CATHEDRAL 

Area 
Square 
Feet 

Height 
Towers 
Spires 
or  Domes 

Height 
Interior 

Length 
Exterior 

Width 
Central 
Aisle 

St.  Peter's 

Rome 

227,069 

448 

150 

718 

100 

Seville 

Spain 

128,570 

400 

150 

430 

60 

St.  John  the  Divine 

New  York 

109,082 

500 

130 

601 

56 

Duomo 

Milan 

107,000 

355 

153 

500 

60 

Cologne 

Germany 

91,464 

512 

145 

511 

41 

Amiens 

France 

71,208 

361 

140 

521 

40 

St.  Sophia 

Constantinople 

70,000 

185 

184 

350 

100 

Antwerp 

Belgium 

70,000 

397 

130 

500 

35 

Chartres 

France 

68,260 

378 

122 

507 

50 

Notre  Dame 

Paris 

64,108 

204 

110 

390 

45 

York 

England 

63,800 

198 

99 

486 

51 

St.  Paul's 

London 

59,700 

363 

89 

460 

40 

St.  Patrick's 

New  York 

57,768 

339 

112 

332 

48 

Winchester 

England 

53,480 

78 

556 

35 

Rheims 

France 

48,985 

270 

124 

483 

40 

i 

Salisbury 

England 

46,827 

404 

84 

473 

35  f 

Westminster  Abbey 

London 

46,000 

225 

101 

511 

35 

Ely 

England 

46,000 

215 

70 

517 

34 

Lincoln 

England 

44,400 

271 

82 

482 

39 

Canterbury 

England 

36,494 

235 

80 

522 

33 

Contributions,  of  whatever  amount,  for  the  execution  of  the  foregoing  designs  will  be 
thankfully  received.  Checks  should  be  drawn  to  the  order  of  The  Cathedral  of  St.  John 
the  Divine  and  mailed  to  the  Canon  Bursar  at  the  Cathedral. 


Legal  Title  for  use  in  making  bequests  by  will: 
"  The  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  John  the  Divine  in  the  City  and  Diocese  of  New  York " 


"A  Guide  to  the  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  John  the  Divine",  published  by  the  Laymen's  Club,  contains  88  pages  descriptive  of  the 
Cathedral,  16  pages  of  half-tone  illustrations,  and  many  line  cuts.  In  paper  covers,  50  cents  a  copy  (by  mail  60  cents);  in  purple  cloth 
and  gold,  $1.00  {by  mail  $1.10).    Address:  The  Laymen's  Club,  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


